


three's a crowd

by Anonymous



Series: Happy Cooli-days! [1]
Category: American Housewife (TV)
Genre: Gay Cooper, I really like Tenzing Norgay Trainor so he's just gonna be in a lot of these, Jealousy, M/M, Minor Trevor/Cooper Bradford, Obliviously Enraged Oliver, Pettiness, but it's a ~plot device~
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27978732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Since when were Cooper and Trevor so friendly? And since when did Oliver care so much?(Trevor helps give Oliver an epiphany that he probably should have come to on his own. In the evilest way possible.)-Happy Cooli-days! Day 1: Non-AU | Jealousy
Relationships: Cooper Bradford/Oliver Otto
Series: Happy Cooli-days! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049231
Comments: 13
Kudos: 68





	three's a crowd

**Author's Note:**

  * For [baetrixv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/baetrixv/gifts).



Trevor has always been a little on the arrogant side, but hey, that’s what makes money. Oliver has never _disliked_ the guy, much less since he started becoming synonymous with Oliver’s acceptance into the Ivy League, but he’s become more of a nuisance than ideal. No, not at his work. Trevor is obnoxiously stellar at performing his Gyftee duties, albeit on his own schedule sometimes. 

The _real_ problem is how every recent Gyftee meeting has eventually derailed into the _Trevor and Cooper Show_ . Don’t misunderstand him; the silent tension between Oliver’s two partners-in-crime on day one was _brutal_ . Oliver had to banish Cooper from the room so that he would stop breathing down their necks and only _then_ did Trevor start talking business. Now, it’s almost like the two can go on about everything _but_ work when they’re together.

Last week, Oliver came back from the bathroom to see Cooper showing Trevor a gallery of pieces from next season’s Amiri collection on his phone. The Creative Director had _apparently_ asked for Cooper’s input on anything that should be struck from the release. Oliver wouldn’t know. Cooper never told _him_. 

Oliver thought it was a fluke, but it kept getting worse. Just yesterday, Cooper had stood idly by the chessboard on their coffee table- which was _for decor_ , mind you- and mentioned that he wished he had learned it after playing with his mother that one time in northern Italy. Trevor turned around in response, his hands leaving the keys previously mashing strings of code into Atom, and _that_ was enough to set off the alarms in Oliver’s head. Not only was Trevor _not_ typing out an essential piece of Oliver’s future, but _Cooper_ was the culprit.

“You wanna learn?” Trevor asked, pushing himself up off his seat. 

_Don’t you dare,_ Oliver thought.

Cooper’s eyes sparkled in delight. He bit at his lip, trying to hold back a smile. “Really?”

Trevor nodded as if it was the most casual goddamn thing in the world to try and teach someone chess during a business meeting. “Yeah. I’m no master, but I can teach you if you’d like.”

Cooper beamed and nodded like a broken bobblehead. “Yes, yes! I’d like that.”

Oliver scoffed as Trevor _moved to the couch and left his laptop behind_. “Uh, hello? Guys!”

“Something wrong?” Cooper looked up at Oliver from his seat on the couch, with Trevor already sidled up against the arm opposite him. Their knees touched.

Anxiety welled in Oliver’s throat. “Am I the only one here who cares about our _future_?”

“What do you mean, man?” Cooper was aiming those bright, innocent eyes at him. Of course, Oliver was weak. _He’s not trying to sabotage you,_ Oliver had to remind himself. 

_Trevor_ , on the other hand, might have been a different story. As he pulled the chessboard closer toward them, a bishop toppled to the cushion. His hand brushed Cooper’s as they both reflexively grabbed for it. Oliver swears Trevor _smirked_ at him _._

“This could be the most important part of our future,” Oliver nagged, motioning wildly at Trevor’s laptop. “Maybe less chess and more coding, Trevor?”

Trevor laughed. “ _Gyftee_ is not the most important part of your future, dude.”

Oliver blanched, because _the fuck does that mean?_ Needless to say, he was ignored in the end and has since had to suffer Cooper rattling off his brand-new knowledge about " _how the horse piece moves"_ at any opportunity. It’s hard to enjoy how adorable the kid is when Oliver recalls the amount of work time that was sacrificed for it.

Luckily, Oliver is nothing if not direct. That’s why he’s CEO of this company, after all. He’ll have a quick talk with Trevor after today’s meeting, and it will all be back to normal. They both have the same goal. Trevor should get it.

Oliver is not as surprised as he should be when he goes upstairs for a glass of water and finds Trevor already inside. “Let me guess, Cooper invited you early?”

Trevor smiles. “No, I’ve got something to talk to you about.”

“Oh.” Oliver swallows down a gulp of water. “That’s actually good news. I’ve got something too.”

Trevor tips his head politely and follows Oliver down into the basement. “Where is Cooper, anyway?” He asks as they step into the den.

Oliver rolls his eyes. “Wouldn’t _you_ like to know?” Trevor almost doesn’t catch it, since Oliver does a pretty great job of passive-aggressively muttering it under his breath.

“Hm?”

“He’s out shopping with Taylor,” Oliver replies quickly. “She said she needed a more _refined_ college wardrobe or something.”

Trevor settles into a barstool and starts pulling out his laptop from his bag. “ _Right_. So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Well.” Oliver sets his glass down, cringing a little at the shrill chirp it makes when it hits the counter. “You and Cooper.”

“Uh. What _about_ us?”

“You guys need to stop… talking so much, during meetings.”

Trevor pulls on a little _a-ha_ face and it infuriates Oliver to his core. “Oh, _really_?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how people think that Cooper and I are dating when we’ve never been as close to flirting as you two are during every fucking meeting!”

_Bingo_.

Oliver pales. “Uh, not that I think you two _are_ flirting. I mean, Cooper’s not even gay.”

Trevor’s self-satisfied look drops. He scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion- something Oliver has _never_ seen before. “Wait.”

“What?”

“You don’t…?”

“I don’t _what_?”

“You don’t know?” 

Oliver feels unsettled, right in the pit of his stomach. “What don’t I know?”

“You just said Cooper was-” Trevor shakes his head. “Never mind. I misunderstood.”

Oliver looks unconvinced but moves on. “Okay, well, now that I’ve told you about my problem, you go.”

“What exactly _is_ your problem? Me flirting with Cooper?”

“Wait, you _were_ flirting with Cooper?”

“What does it matter? It’s not like Cooper minds.”

Oliver whines in offense. “It doesn’t.”

“Then what’s wrong? Unless you’re his boyfriend...”

Oliver’s eyes almost bulge out of his head. “I’M _NOT_ HIS BOYFRIEND!”

“Yeah, I see that now. So there shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Well! The issue is that you’re getting distracted from what _really_ matters here.” 

Trevor chuckles in disbelief. “Right. _Gyftee_ is what really matters to you. Gyftee is who you’ll be taking with you to college and spending the rest of your life with.”

“What-”

Cooper is always an expert at timely interruptions. Now is no different as he bursts through the basement doorframe all of a sudden, with a brand new coat draped over his arm. “Sorry I’m late!”

Trevor watches as Oliver’s face, for only a split second, relaxes.

“What is that?” Oliver grins in spite of himself. “I thought you sacrificed all of your credit cards?”

Cooper nods, sauntering over to the boys at the counter. “I did. _Taylor_ bought this,” He presses it into Oliver’s unmoving arms, “As a favor to me for helping her pick out some new stuff today.”

Oliver’s posture immediately hardens as he remembers the third wheel in their presence. He tries his best to dismiss Cooper’s generosity, but he places the coat on his bed with care. Trevor doesn’t miss it.

“What are we getting up to, chicos?”

“Oliver has been hounding me, so I’m thinking _work_ ,” Trevor casually replies.

“Aw.” Cooper pouts. Oliver’s heart melts. “Okay. I’ll just hang out and watch you guys, then.”

“Don’t be like that, you can sit with me,” Trevor offers _too_ casually.

“Oh, awesome!”

“ _Actually_ ,” Oliver stretches in between them, letting his palm find the seat of the chair beside Trevor, “I think _I_ should sit with Trevor so that I can talk to him about the important stuff.” 

“Oh.” Cooper deflates just a little, and Oliver thinks _so be it_.

They don’t talk much of it for the rest of the meeting, but Oliver _feels_ Trevor’s eyes on them throughout it. He doesn’t like it at all.

* * *

“What happened today?” Cooper asks, completely bewildered at Oliver’s strange turn in attitude. Trevor has long gone, but it’s not like Cooper got a word in with him during the time he was there.

Oliver shrugs, heading back to his room. He sinks into his bed. Oliver's hand can’t help but find its way to the coat Cooper picked out for him. “What do you mean?”

“You were being… weird,” Cooper explains. He follows into Oliver’s part of the basement, standing awkwardly as if actually sitting down next to Oliver might kill him.

“Me? I wasn’t the one trying to derail the conversation every five minutes!”

“I- _what_?” Cooper frowns. “What did I do?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask your new friend _Trevor_?”

_Oh my God_ , Oliver and Cooper both think.

“I’m just trying to be nice to him!” Cooper crosses his arms, prepared to stomp away at any second. “I know how important it is to you that we get along. I was mostly doing it for you,” he mumbles. 

Oliver sighs. He’s screwing this up, isn’t he? “I know.”

“If you want me to start fighting with him again, I can.” 

Oliver shakes his head. “No, I don’t want you to-”

“He _is_ pretty nice though.”

_Hold onto that thought,_ Oliver quickly changes his mind back. He scolds himself internally. He can’t keep going on like this. Trevor’s not all that bad, and Cooper should be allowed to at least enjoy his presence if he’s going to be forced to hang out with the dude all the time.

“I’m sorry I keep distracting you guys.” Cooper drops his head. “I just… When I joined the group, I thought I’d stop feeling left out. But I realized I always feel a little bit left out when you’re not paying attention to me.” He’s looking up again now, his gaze completely earnest.

Oliver’s chest is pounding like an overenthusiastic bass drummer is living inside his ribcage. “You… do?”

Cooper nods.

“I should be the one apologizing,” Oliver carefully admits. “I didn’t like you two talking because I thought he was…”

Cooper’s breath is hanging on his every word.

“I thought you two were flirting.” He curls in on himself a little, pulling the coat over his lap and bunching it up in his nervous hands.

Cooper laughs. “Oliver, relax! Just because I’m gay, it doesn’t mean that I flirt with every guy that walks within six feet of me. Trevor _is_ kind of cute, but he’s not my type.”

Oliver’s head spins. First of all, Cooper is _what_ ? Trevor is _what_ ? Cooper has a _type_?

“Uh. Yeah? Did we not talk about it before, dude?” Cooper replies because _Oliver just said all of that out loud_. “Wait. Oh shit, I only told Trevor because I thought you already knew. I’m gay.”

“But what about…?”

Cooper vaguely follows his line of thinking. “The girls? Well, I used to think that I just didn’t have lasting feelings for any of them because they weren’t as rich as me. Turns out, I _can_ have lasting feelings for anybody, no matter their bank account, just not for girls, apparently.”

_So_ , “What about Trevor?” Oliver clarifies. “You think he’s _cute_?”

Cooper shrugs. “Yeah, but it’s not going anywhere. Maybe in another life, dude. It would be way too weird now. Plus-”

“Is there... someone else?” Oliver’s fingers are fisted around the hood of the coat. He hesitates to meet Cooper’s eyes.

“Yeah,” Cooper says almost instantly. “Yeah.”

* * *

Oliver now knows how observant Trevor really is. At the next meeting, he singles out a passing touch of Oliver’s palm on Cooper’s shoulder that lasts _a second_ longer than typical. He corners Oliver when Cooper goes upstairs to restock the charcuterie board and plainly remarks: “Thank _FUCK_ you two worked everything out. Your will-they-won’t-they development was clearly occupying all of your brain cells, so I’m glad we can all get back to our usually scheduled programming shit now.”

Oliver opens his mouth and then closes it. “How did you _know_?”

“Well, Cooper told me his side of the story. And I have eyes.”

“ _Okay_ -” Oliver starts indignantly.

“Dude. You were so easy to read that _I_ figured out what was going on between you two within a day of being in your lovers’ nest. And just to remind you, I haven’t dedicated a _single_ portion of my life to bettering my understanding of other human beings. Like, at all. You’re just an incredibly open book.”

“Huh.” And Oliver wants to say a whole lot more, because what kind of _self-centered prick_ would flirt with someone’s crush in front of them to make them realize they even _have_ a crush in the first place?

But then Cooper walks back into the den with that plated assortment of gourmet fruit, cheeses, and meats, and he’s smiling like everything in the stupid world is beautiful, and Oliver is so _fucking_ in love. 

“See? You’re doing it now.”

Maybe Oliver actually owes Trevor his entire life.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! comments and kudos are appreciated : )
> 
> if you want to talk to me about cooliver/gay cooper/etc u can msg me on my tumblr: @thanatsarans


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